Good news for Dorman House fans: Phase One of the restoration on the historic Dorman House is completed. The rotted floor boards have been replaced, holes in the brick walls have been filled and a concrete floor has been poured.
With the walls and foundation stabilized, City Inspector Chuck Bailey has signed off on the safety of the Dorman House.
“Things are not quite square,” said Suzanne Bush, Henry County Museum director, “but the walls are no longer moving.”
Built in 1852, the Dorman House is the oldest two-story brick house in Clinton. Descendants of Judge Jerubial Dorman owned the house until 1996, when it was sold to Clinton Main Street. In 2008, the house was acquired by the Henry County Historical Society.
The house, with 19th century furnishings, was open for tours and used a meeting and event venue. But after structural problems became evident, it was closed in June of 2021. Crack in the walls, interior woodwork pulling away from the walls, and bulging exterior walls warned of imminent collapse, and the museum was advised to remove all the furnishings. That year, the Dorman House was named a “Place of Peril” by the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation.
In Phase 1,support piers were put on top of the sandstone foundation, metal pins placed in the walls to maintain the integrity of the structure, and a new HVAC system installed.
“We still have a lot to do,” Suzanne said, “but we are well on our way.”
Suzanne said at first, the historical society couldn’t find a contractor to take on the job, and looked both locally and in the Kansas City area. They found both a contractor and a stone mason when they were hired after the Whitlow building collapsed on the Square, she said.
Of the $250,000 budgeted for Phase One, $210,000 was used, she said. Suzanne said the HCHS board had to use reserve funds to save the house from collapse, as it wasn’t feasible to wait to receive a grant.
Phase two, to restore the interior, will start with the $40,000.
“We are waiting 30 days for the concrete to cure,” she said.
A previous restoration in 1990 replaced the original plaster walls with wallboard. Suzanne said the historical society hopes to use as many in-house resources as possible to restore the interior walls of the Dorman House, which will need painting and wall-papering.
The HCHS Board had hoped that Phase Two would include an ADA-compliant bathroom and an addition to the kitchen, but have had to cut back on those plans, she said.
The staircase that was attached to a crumbling interior wall was removed, but will be reinstalled, Suzanne said. Concrete was poured around the brick safe set into the floor of Judge Dorman’s office, and the safe will be covered with plexiglas to allow visitors to see it, she said. Unfortunately, there were no hidden hordes in the safe.
Phase One has left the museum reserves low. Fundraisers — including a chicken dinner and auction — raised $30,000 this summer to replenish reserves, Suzanne said. Tickets are now on sale for the Oct. 7 Murder Mystery dinner theater, Murder at the Masquerade Ball, a lead-up to Halloween with dinner guests in masks and costumes, and actors from the Levity Players Group in St. Louis.
Another fundraiser for the Dorman House will be Sept. 23, when the Cattlemen’s Association will be grilling and selling burgers and brats on the grounds of the Homestead during Old Settler’s Day.
The living history event will also feature traditional Ozark music by the Shortleaf Band at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Organizer Connie Grisier has lined up Sam Vansant to give demonstrations of chuckwagon/cast-iron cooking, and craftspeople who will be making brooms and rope, blacksmithing, weaving rugs, carving scrimshaw, spinning yarn and making lace.
Old Settler’s Day is a fun, free event with a hint of history for all ages.
Henry County Historical Society volunteers operate the museum complex through memberships, donations and admission fees. The museum does not receive funding from the county. The complex of buildings include the museum located in the Anheuser-Busch Building, a meeting and performing arts venue in the Delozier Building, formerly the First National Bank, the Annex with a walk-through village, the Exchange Building and the Dorman House.
“They’re all old buildings,” Suzanne noted. “The reserve funds need to be replaced to keep up the maintenance of the museum complex.”
The complex also includes the Homestead grounds, where Old Settler’s Day will be held. Children enjoy playing school in the one-room schoolhouse, imagining life in the dog-trot cabin’s two rooms, and viewing the smoke house, mule barn and corn crib.
The stone water trough that was in front of the Dorman House when it was a stage stop is also on the Homestead grounds.
THe HCHS board hopes to get a grant to complete Phase Three of the project, Suzanne said, which will replace windows, remove exterior paint and apply a breathable finish to prevent further deterioration by moisture trapped in the interior brick and mortar.
People have asked Suzanne if they had removed the sheet rock on the interior walls and seen how much structural work the house needed, would she have gone ahead with the project? Her answer:
“I can’t imagine letting go of something so significant in our county’s history,” she said.
The Dorman House generates tourism, she said, and is a tangible link to decades of American history from antebellum days through the 20th century. The historic home also provides a meeting space for local groups, including the Udolpha Miller Dorman Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The chapter is named for Judge Dorman’s spouse, a descendant of colonists who fought in the American Revolution. The chapter was founded in 1914 by a Dorman daughter who was born during the Civil War and lived through two world wars.
Judge Dorman was a “Constitutional Unionist,” Suzanne said, who believed in states rights but voted for Missouri not to secede from the Union. Missouri’s entry as a slave state into the Union precipitated the Civil War, she said. Despite divisions in the state — there were rival state governments and governors — Missouri remained a “wishful star” on the Confederate flag.
Judge Dorman remained on the fence.
“He never chose a side in the war,” Suzanne said.
Judge Dorman died in 1910 at age 91, and is buried at Englewood Cemetery. His younger daughter, Victoria Dorman Phillips, lived to age 97 in Clinton, dying in 1964. Locals still remember Victoria’s daughter, Udolpha Phillips, who lived in the house for 20 years, and died in 1992 at age 88.
The remaining local Dorman descendant, Thom Knott of Thom Knott insurance agency, is the grandson of Victoria Phillips’ daughter Katherine, Udolpha Phillips’ sister.
Suzanne said the community has supported the preservation of the Dorman House in the past, and will support it in the future through donations and fundraisers.
One way for your family name to (literally) go down in Henry County history is to buy a brick for the walks on the Dorman House property. The brick can be engraved with your name and family members.
Other options are to attend Old Settler’s Day on Sept. 23 and buy a grilled burger or brat, or purchase tickets to the Oct. 7 Murder at the Masquerade Ball. Tickets are $50 each, and can be reserved by calling 660-885-8414. The dinner entree is a choice of chicken Alfredo or penne Bolognese, served with a vegetable and roll, dessert, soft drinks and coffee.
